PHOENIX -- Gov. Doug Ducey unveiled at $10.1 billion spending plan for next budget year built on projections of more consumer spending, Arizonans buying more lottery tickets and hiring back many of the auditors who ensure that people are paying the state what they owe, auditors the governor previously laid off.

PHOENIX -- Attorneys for the Ducey administration are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to preserve the levy that funds an expanded Medicaid program -- assuming that expansion isn’t undermined by the Trump administration and Congress killing the program.

PHOENIX -- Arguing the process is considered by some to be "rife with fraud,'' Republican lawmakers advanced legislation imposing a new hurdle in the ability of citizen groups to propose their own laws.

On a 4-3 margin the Judiciary Committee voted to make it a Class 6 felony to steal an American flag that is on display by a resident or business. That translates to a year in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000.

Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday fired Tim Jeffries on the heels of reports that he had flown to Nogales on a state plane to take several staffers out drinking at a Nogales restaurant during business hours. Jeffries was celebrating the fact these workers had agreed to become "at will'' employees who could be fired for no reason at all.